Avalon Books
by TheLadyLeFay
Summary: A Modern AU piece where Morgana is the co-owner of the bookstore Avalon Books. ArMor romance and just random fluff. Characters: Morgana, Nimueh, Lancelot, Arthur, Merlin, Morgause and Uther referenced.


**Author's Note: Hey everyone! So if you just got an updated message this story hasn't actually been updated, I just saw some small errors that bothered me and needed to fix them.**

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Avalon Books Morgana stood on her tiptoes trying to put the books that had just arrived on the shelf where they belonged. This would be so much easier if she was taller. But no. It really wasn't fair that Morgause had gotten the tall gene and she hadn't.

She sighed and finally gave up trying to reach, instead going behind the counter to grab a stool to stand on. She stopped at the sight of the time - 11:50, ten minutes till her lunch break.

"Anyone here?" Gwen's familiar voice called.

A smile spread across her face and she moved around to the bookstores entrance where Gwen was standing wearing a light purple summery dress with flowers on it. Morgana grabbed her friend in a close hug and they both laughed. Looking at the two girls it would seem a surprise that they were such good friends - Gwen seemed to radiate sunshine and flowers, which made sense being that she owned the flower shop just down the shop. Morgana on the other hand was more likely to be called dark and mysterious. She was always wearing royal colors, grays or whites, and could almost always be found wearing something black. At this moment she was currently wearing an old pair of black jeans, and a white tank top over her black tank top. Her dark brown hair hung loosely down her back .

"You do know that I don't get off for my lunch break till 12:00, right?" she teased finally letting go of her hand.

"I know, but I decided to take my break a little early. Elaine is watching the store for me. Besides, it's not like the store is crowded right now and you can't take a break."

Morgana looked around Avalon Books, the bookstore she had been working at off and on for the past three years. Nim and her had decided a few years ago to get together and open a bookstore together, being that they both loved books and balanced each other out pretty well. The bookstore was rather small, but it was the charm and characteristic of the place that kept it running while other major bookstores were taking over. The walls were covered with paintings of historical events and pieces of literature. There was always incense lit and most of the time Celtic music could be found playing. The most common was Lorenna McKennit and Morgana had memorized all the words to Mystic Dream by now In the back they had recently added a little coffee shop called The Lake, and their most recent employee, a girl named Freya who was four years younger and still in high school, ran most of it. The coffee shop was just like the bookstore though, celtic music and all. It was one of the things she loved so much about Avalon Books - it felt like she had fallen into a different time. Plus it was great how when no one needed her she could just curl up with a book and relax.

Gwen looked at Morgana thoughtfully, "have you talked to Uther yet?"

Uther was Morgana's adopted father, and had been since she was ten and her father had died off at war. She had lived with him most of her life up until a few years ago when she had found out that she had a half sister - Morgause. Though Uther and Morgause immediately hated each other, probably because they were in competing companies, Morgana had insisted on moving in with Morgause who she had formed an immediate attachment with. Truthfully part of the reason Morgana had moved out was because Uther made her want to kill him sometimes. She had hoped that if they were no longer living in the same house they would stop fighting. Which was why she was now sharing an apartment with Gwen, Nim and Morgause.

"I don't to talk about it. If Uther is going to continue being such a pompous ass I'm not going to try to be nice to him. Morgause is part of my family and he has to accept that."

Gwen sighed, "Uther's always been an ass," she said and Morgana knew Gwen was reflecting on the time that her father had nearly been fired for being wrongly accused of stealing money from Camelot Inc., Uther's company. "But he is your father -"

"adopted father," Morgana cut in harshly, determined to make the difference.

"Alright fine, but you are going to have to forgive him sometime. He and Morgause will always hate each other."

"I know, but he has to apologize first."

Gwen inwardly groaned, that was something Uther and Morgana had in common - they were both stubborn to the point of stupidity.

"Gwen?" Nim called entering the room wearing a short fun summery red dress and a blue sash wrapped around her head that no one but Nim could pull off.

"Hey Nim!" Gwen said, dropping the topic of Uther to go over and hug Nim. Morgana breathed a sigh of relief, she really didn't want to think about Uther right now.

"Are the guys here yet?" Nim asked.

"Not yet…"

"Hellooooooooo!" Lance called pushing the door open, walking into the shop with Merlin and Arthur.

"Hey! Hold on I'll be ready in one -" Nim tripped over the box in front of her but Merlin rushed forward and caught her arm.

"Easy there," he said a big grin on his face. Nim smiled back also, and Morgana stifled a giggle. Subtle Nim, very subtle.

He walked straight forward and planted a kiss on Gwen and Morgana was sure even Romeo and Juliet would be jealous. That amount of cuteness and love had to be illegal. It was impossible to think that either of them had ever dated other people, though they hadn't gotten together until three years ago. They actually hadn't known each other in high-school, and while Morgana had spent a year at boarding school in Ireland, Gwen and Arthur had dated. She didn't want to think about that though, because it had broken her heart to see her best friend with Arthur. She had kept it to herself though and insisted that if it made Gwen happy it made her happy. Besides she hadn't talked to Arthur at all that year, instead preferring to avoid him as much as possible. She was a train wreck and she wasn't going to take him down with her. That was why she had left for boarding school in the first place. She wasn't going to lie though, she had secretly been happy when the two broke up. Though she had felt bad for Gwen, Gwen had insisted that the two just didn't belong together. They had remained close friends and later in the year Arthur had introduced Gwen to his roommate at college - Lance. And from there it was history. Lance looked at Gwen as if the world shone from her eyes and Gwen looked at him the same way. She smiled at the sight of them and was glad her best friend was so happy.

She turned to see Arthur looking straight at her. Oh fuck.

"I'll be right back," she said mentally cursing herself for not having thought of an excuse to get out of lunch earlier as she snuck to the back room where they kept all the extra stuff. She leaned her head against the wall and shut her eyes for a minute, forcing herself to take a deep breath. It was just Arthur, she could deal with him, it was just Arthur…  
"Hi," She opened her eyes to see Arthur push open the door and move into the storage room to be closer to her and make it impossible for the others to hear them. She took in the site of his sloppy blonde hair hanging loosely in his clear ocean blue eyes. He was still wearing the suite he war to work every day, since being Uther's son he was basically required to one day take over Camelot Inc., except he had taken off the tie and the top buttons were undone and he had rolled up the sleeves of his jack and white button down to his elbows.

Who the hell was she kidding? It was Arthur! She was fucked.

"Hi," she finally answered back looking away from him.

He continued to stare straight at her. "Oh hell Morgana, are you really going to do this?"

She fought the desire to say 'do what' knowing it would only anger him.

"What do you want me to say?" she said looking up to glare at him.

"How about I'm sorry Arthur? Or anything to show me that you remember last night. I woke up this morning to find that you were gone!"

"Would you have rather I stayed and waited before leaving? We both know it was a mistake Arthur, a stupid mistake. I thought if I left you might get the hint that it was better to just pretend nothing happened."

"A mistake? It was nothing?" Arthur spat out the words and she was surprised at the anger in his voice. "It certainly wasn't nothing last night when I kissed you and took you to my room. You certainly didn't seem to think it was a mistake either!"

She tried not to hear the pain in his voice, but she couldn't deny it. "We were both drunk Arthur. Neither of us knew what we were doing."

She tried to fight back the memories of the night before. She had been stuck at her house bored to death when Arthur had called telling her he would be there in ten minutes. Of course like always he had somehow known that she needed to get out and she had quickly thrown on a plain black dress. They had ended up going to a newer club where they wouldn't run into anyone who knew that they were adopted siblings and had stayed out late both getting sufficiently drunk. She hadn't been able to remember the last time she and Arthur had hung out alone and she had forgotten how easy it was being with him. He was the only person she felt one hundred percent comfortable around and she had easily relaxed into him. When they had both left the bar he had insisted she stay at his place, saying that he couldn't let her go back to her apartment wasted like that.. He had told her that she could have the bed and he would sleep on the couch, and had then passed her one of his old t-shirts to sleep in. After throwing the shirt on she had stepped out to see Arthur flopped on the couch shirtless, in an old pair of sweats. Her heart had skipped a beat, and no matter how much she insisted she had been drunk, looking at him that moment her mind had been clear.

"You don't have to sleep on the couch you know," she had said, and she still didn't know what had possessed her and made her say it.

He had stood up and walked towards her, slowly and carefully until he was standing only an inch away from her. She wasn't sure who had kissed who first but next thing she knew her mouth had been on his and her shirt had been tossed to the ground. Later she had fallen asleep in his arms on the bed, thinking that for once everything was perfect. But that morning seeing him lying asleep next to her, his arms wrapped protectively around her she had felt a sense of fear. What had she done? It was Arthur! Of course she had always cared for him, but now everything was wrong. He would see how horrible she really was and he would grow to hate her, and whatever it was that they had had their whole lives would be over. She couldn't bear the thought that she would loose him, and knowing her if their relationship continued like it had last night she would ruin it. She was like that - destroying everything good in her life. So she had snuck out without a note and hoped he would forget it. Obviously he hadn't.

"Morgana, don't lie to me. I know you felt something last night." Arthur said taking a step towards her making her heart skip a beat. "You can't lie to me."

Suddenly she was angry at him for making her spell it out. "Don't you get it?" she snapped. "Are you that dim! I'm a psycho mess! Or didn't the countless arguments you hear me over having with Uther trigger that? He can see how much trouble I am, why can't you? I ruin everything! My boyfriends? They are all a slew of psycho's! You've seen me come home wasted or found me abandoned on the side of the road when one of those assholes kicked me out. And you know what? I deserve it! I fucked up my life a long time ago, and now I'm fucking everyone else is up as well! Can't you see that!" She should stop, but now that she started she couldn't. She was finally saying everything she had been thinking for years and the words kept pouring out. "I'm a ticking time-bomb about to explode and everything is going to get destroyed when I do! I will _not_ let you hate me! _I will not ruin you too_!" She practically shouted the last part, and then there was silence as she tried to gather her composure. "It will only end Arthur," her voice got caught in her throat and she had to force herself to say the rest of the words no matter how much they hurt. "It was nothing." She repeated once more, looking at him begging him to understand.

He took another step towards her so that she was now pressed against the wall and he was only two inches away from her.  
"I don't believe that, and I know you don't either." He whispered. "I'm going to kiss you now. You tell me if what we have is nothing."  
She opened her mouth to protest but before she could his mouth was pressed to hers, and her world dissolved. She moaned and kissed him back, her body betraying her brain. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he moved closer to her so that there was no room between them. He moved his hands into her hair and deepened the kiss. She clung to him tightly and when he finally broke the kiss they were both breathing heavily.

"You call that nothing?" he asked as he caught his breath, taking a step away from her no matter how much every fiber in his body was screaming at him to get closer and kiss her again.

She looked at him and finally said the truth. "I'm scared."

He reached out to brush a piece of hair back from her face. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." He gave her a smile that melted any resolve she had left, "we were always going to be together someday. You know that just as well as I."

She looked up at him, and knew it was the truth. She didn't' know why but something told her that they had always belonged together.

"Morgana? Arthur? Are you guys coming?" she heard Merlin shout.

She and Arthur both looked at the door, suddenly remembering that their friends were out in the other room.

Arthur looked at her and reached out his hand. "You ready?"

She reached out and grasped his hand with hers. "Yes." There was no turning back now, and if she was honest with herself there had been no turning back from the moment she had first met him.

He pushed open the door and they entered the main part of the bookstore, to find Gwen leaning her head on Lance who had his arms wrapped around her. Nim and Merlin were both leaning at the door.

"Good, you're here. Let's go!" Nim said delighted and pushed open the door. Merlin

took in the sight of their hands entwined together and she could have sworn she heard him whisper "they always come back together." before he followed Nim out like a lovesick puppy. She stared at his retreating back, getting the feeling that Merlin knew more than he was letting on.

Lance strode towards the door. "I'm starved!"

Gwen laughed. "You are always hungry!"

She turned and smiled at Morgana and mouthed 'you are telling me everything later!"

Morgana and Arthur hurried after their friends, their hands still entwined with each other. She looked back at the sign on the door that read Avalon Books and then back at Arthur.

Everything was going to be okay.


End file.
